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Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Unpimped 5-Speed: 1987 Acura Integra LS

The first generation Acura Integra was first produced in 1986 as the basic offering for Honda's new luxury brand (the high end was the Legend). It was purchased by middle class families when new and ten years later handed down to their kids who promptly installed giant fart can mufflers and cut the springs. Finding a manual transmission Integra that hasn't been destroyed isn't easy, but check out this 1987 Acura Integra LS offered for $2700 in Pasadena, CA via craigslist. Tip from FuelTruck.

The Integra was actually very inexpensive for the time and offered all
sorts of luxury features typically reserved for more expensive
automobiles for a fair price. This example isn't a low mile cream puff (280k miles between two owners) but it is inexpensive and equipped with a clutch.

Back in the day, Honda put as much effort,
energy, and enthusiasm into their engines as they do into making their cars ugly stylish today. The D16A1 was a 1.6 liter dual-over-head-cam all-alloy 4-banger
that puts out 113 horsepower and 99 ft-lbs of torque. The transverse
mounted little engine is features torque-a-plenty at low rpm and is
buttery smooth for an inline-4.

Over 20 years ago I bought an '87 with 105K for $3,800 from its original owner who gave me a stack of repair receipts and mentioned that the only thing not working is the driver's side door lock - when the door is open, the latch cannot be moved into "locked" position, thus necessitating locking by key (no power locks). When I got home and read the manual (I was in my late teens!), I had realized that it was a feature, in theory designed to prevent you from locking your keys on the OTHER side of the door. A simultaneous pull on the inside door handle would enable one to lock the door from the inside. I have seen this feature on a few more cars since then, but nothing recent.Oh yeah, with keys in the off position, you can light up the dash clock by pressing on the little spring-loaded door covering up the HH:MM:00 set buttons.

I thought the bumper guard around the vehicle was originally black and had been painted, but apparently it came body-color only on the special edition version. Looks so much better. I had the trim on my 91 painted body color to clean up the look.

I begged my parents to buy this first generation when it was new and I was approaching the driving age. They bought a previa (non-supercharged, non-AWD, non-manual) instead and i was so disappointed.

FTB, you cannot get the same character and spot on handling, sound, and fell of a 16v GTI. Not out of a Acura, of any year or model. The GSR was a cool car though.

In 1992 I graduated high school and my parents bought me my GTI 16v. I first looked at Escort GT, Sentra SE-R (that was getting all the raves), Acura Integra, Mazda MX3 GS.. NOPE. None compared to the feel, low end torque, outward vision, those incredible Racaro seats cool factor .. just no comparison.

That one was a Montanna Metallic one that due to my parent's having serious financial difficulty was reposessed in 93.. I was incredibly sad... but I bought a red one, same 92 2 liter GTI 16v.. in 2000 for Cash... still own it, have mildly modified it (mostly suspension) and LOVE it.

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